Deborah Lindberg Gertsen: ‘Don’t wait for someday…’

Deborah Lindberg Gertsen works in a bank, but she is not a banker. She brings 40 years of experience to her position as senior vice president of investments and LPL financial consultant at Cedar Rapids Investment Consulting/Cedar Rapids Bank & Trust in Cedar Rapids. In fact, CRBT originally hired her to start the trust department and do the investments in 2003.

“What my job means is I help people manage their wealth, whatever that might look like,” she said. “It can be someone just starting out, or someone who’s already built up some capital and needs guidance on what to do with it. Because I’ve been in the business so long, I have clients who I’ve kept through multiple generations, which is really gratifying.” 

Ms. Gertsen started out her career as an assistant vice president and corporate secretary to Jack Evans at Securities Corporation of Iowa, eventually working her way up the ladder to her current position.

“He was my mentor and was always one to give back to the community. My son is named after him. Jack is a pillar in this community and someone I try to emulate. We’re family,” she said. “Then when Jack left SCI for Hall-Perrine Foundation, I acquired all of his clients and became vice president — investments.”

To earn her college degree, Ms. Gertsen attended Coe College as a non-traditional student and completed her bachelor’s in business administration and accounting. She also earned her CPA designation a year later, several NASD licenses, and multiple insurance licenses.

Ms. Gertsen’s volunteerism is widely known throughout the community.

“I live in a community. I earn my living in a community. I need to give back to my community,” she said. “I have a passion for taking care of people, whether it’s in my work where I find solutions, what their needs are because there’s no one size fits all. There are so many needs in the community. I have a passion for pets and older people. That’s where I funnel my volunteer work right now.” 

“I started out at Family Services way back when. The president of the YMCA (now Waypoint) said she couldn’t take the early morning meetings and asked me to step in. So that was the start of my board work.“ Since then, Ms. Gertsen has served on the board of United Way of East Central Iowa, but has also been on the Kirkwood Community College Foundation, the board of trustees for Horizons, the Cedar Rapids Area Estate Planning Council, the Coe College President’s Advisor Council, and Advisory Board for Coe College Birkey Investment Fund. Most of them she was on so long that she could no longer serve per organizational by-laws.

“I’m getting old. I’m ‘timing out’ of everything,” she said.

In August 2020, Mr. Gertsen’s husband encouraged her to seek out opportunities to get out of the house and take a break from her work now and then. Because she loves animals, she approached the Cedar Valley Humane Society, took the training and started with socializing cats and walking dogs. Then she helped with the pet food pantry. Her jobs now include cleaning kennels for cats going early in the morning, to start dishes and laundry, clean kennels, do floors, clean walls, and walk dogs. 

She has already put in approximately 4,000 hours this year alone.

“They tell me I’m an employee, just not a paid one,” she said.

At home, she has her own two dogs and two cats. Her drive to volunteer began early in her first job at SCI. 

“Jack (Evans) was very community-focused and the bank is very community focused. They give us opportunities during the day or whenever to go out there in the community. They want us out there representing us, me and the bank, and I wanted to help give back. So, this has been the perfect place for me. SCI was my first family. This is my second. They take care of their clients, and they take care of me.”

Her philosophy is “Don’t wait for someday, because someday may never come.”